Doubts were raised about the security of exams yesterday after it emerged that
three A-level papers that pupils are due to sit next week were posted to
schools abroad by mistake.

Edexcel, the exam board, said that it would scrap an A-level maths paper over
fears of leaks. But it decided not to withdraw two other papers, in
chemistry and biology, even though these were also sent to some schools
overseas, amid past papers.

About 39,000 candidates in Britain and 11,000 overseas were due to sit the
maths A level a week today. Copies of the paper have already been

One of Britain’s biggest accountancy firms will no longer consider an applicant’s qualifications, school or university when selecting trainees for interview, in an attempt to increase the diversity of its workforce